Ormond fire nearly contained, evacuation advisory lifted

Sunday

Mar 3, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 4, 2013 at 9:28 PM

The voluntary evacuation of several Ormond Beach streets threatened by wildfire was lifted at 6 p.m. Sunday as firefighters worked to fully contain an erratic wildfire that consumed wide swaths of land west of Interstate 95.

ANTHONY DeFEO and JULIE MURPHYSTAFF WRITERS

ORMOND BEACH — The voluntary evacuation of several Ormond Beach streets threatened by wildfire was lifted at 6 p.m. Sunday as firefighters worked to fully contain an erratic wildfire that consumed wide swaths of land west of Interstate 95. As of Sunday night, the Durrance fire had burned an estimated 1,100 acres along the Volusia-Flagler county line and was about 85 percent contained, officials said. About 130 firefighters from nearly every city in Volusia County, along with crews from Flagler County and the Florida Forest Service worked Sunday battling the flames and keeping homes safe. The fire started Saturday about 11:30 a.m. amid clear skies. It grew rapidly Saturday and burned around several neighborhoods off North Tymber Creek Road. The cause of the inferno remains under investigation, according to Greg Dunn, senior forester with the Forest Service. Neither he nor Mark Piland, chief of Volusia County Fire Services, would say Sunday what could have caused the fire. Crews worked overnight Saturday into Sunday to keep the flames in check, battling multiple flare-ups and an unknown number of small "spot fires" that popped up in various places, many of which were smoldering tree stumps. Firefighting units from as far away as Deltona and Edgewater were on scene lending a hand to Volusia County Fire Rescue's efforts. Helicopters from Flagler County Emergency Services and the Forest Service provided aerial surveillance, as well. Even the Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts, which has its own small fire department, sent a unit to the scene. As humidity remained stuck stubbornly in the 30 percent range and winds continued to gust up to 25 mph Sunday, the conditions remained tenuous. "We're looking really good as to the northern line," Dunn said during a 1 p.m. briefing "The southern line is our concern today because of the northwest wind and the homes in that area." As many as 300 homes were evacuated at one point Saturday, but residents of about 250 homes were allowed to return home Saturday night. Visibility remained a bit better Sunday, and Interstate 95 remained opened throughout the day. The road was closed due to smoke for a few hours Saturday, causing delays of more than two hours for drivers. At a briefing Sunday morning, one official with the Forest Service called the fire "one of the fastest-moving" he'd ever seen. "Anytime someone with Forestry, with the years of experience they have, says it's the fastest-moving fire they've ever seen, you need to pay attention," said Piland. "That got my attention." Despite all of the challenges, Piland said no inhabited structures had caught flame by Sunday. Some auxiliary structures, such as fence posts, mailboxes, and pole barns, did burn, though, he said. Michael Harsch, who lives on Dormer Drive in the nearby Deer Creek neighborhood along with his wife, two daughters and son, said the situation had improved from Saturday afternoon. "The smoke was modest, but it really had calmed down considering how it was yesterday afternoon," he said. "It's starting to calm down and from our vantage point it looks like they have things fairly under control at this point." Sunday morning, Harsch and one of his daughters came to the nearby Riverbend Community Church on Granada Boulevard, which fire crews have been using as a base of operations, looking for the latest information on the fire. Fire crews first set up shop in the church's parking lot Saturday. According to Fire Chief Piland, the church cancelled its Sunday services and lent the firefighters full use of its facilities. Instead of a pastor reciting scripture and delivering a sermon from the pulpit, incident commanders and division chiefs read the latest news about the fire as uniformed firefighters filled the church's auditorium. Still, some parishioners showed up anyway, preparing snacks, meals and beverages for the crews throughout the day. One even came bearing homemade cookies and miniature muffins. "We're just here to give a helping hand in any way possible that we can," said Matthew Carswell, one of the Riverbend members who helped serve the firefighters. "We've got a lot of friends and members from our church that live over there so we're just praying for them." Less than two miles away, close to the heat of the action, Wayne Griffin, owner of Horseshoe Farms on Durrance Lane at the Volusia-Flagler county line, was still bleary-eyed Sunday afternoon. A neighbor called Griffin about 9:30 Saturday morning to tell him the vacant land adjacent to his property that is part of Hunter's Ridge was burning. "I'm caretaker of that property," he said. "I got the call, hopped in my truck and flew down the road. The fire was about 4 acres then, but it really caught fast." Flagler County Fire Rescue Capt. Jamey Burnsed, incident commander, confirmed late Sunday that the fire started in the area indicated by Griffin, though he wouldn't be more specific than "southeast of Durrance and Shedd (lanes)." The area Griffin showed a reporter was about 2 miles into Flagler County. He said the fire started on the far side of a private road with a fence and a ditch between it and Durrance Lane. "Somebody set the fire," Griffin said, though officials have yet to pin a cause to the blaze. "It was all green up the road (Durrance Lane). Someone had to climb the fence to start it. No one could have flicked a cigarette from Durrance all the way over there. It's 50 or 60 feet." Griffin, in the capacity of caretaker, surveyed the area looking for signs of trespassers. "There were no tread marks of four-wheelers or bicycles," he said. "We get trespassers, but there weren't any signs of it." Griffin called fire officials and unlocked all the gates to the "40 Grade," an emergency entrance and egress to the area. He and his son, Kevin Griffin, who was in town to build fences, started shoring up his property. "We didn't move any of the (60) horses," the elder Griffin said. "We put them in the barn — tin sides and tin roof, I knew it wasn't going to burn — and shut the doors." The fire quickly burned up to his property, but stopped there. "The deer were darting out of the woods," he said. "We saw at least 10 of them," his son added. "They were getting." The father-and-son team were up until 2:30 a.m. fighting the fire and hooking up generators for power so they could water their animals. Florida Power and Light eventually restored power to the neighborhood about 7 a.m. Sunday. "We're good now, but it was tough for a while," the elder Griffin said. The Forest Service is in charge of the investigation into the fire, Flagler County's Capt. Burnsed said. "Whenever they make their determination, we'll know what the cause is," he said. "Anything I would say would be speculation, and I'm not going to do that." Firefighters plan to continue monitoring and mopping up the fire Monday. No rain is in the forecast, but the 24-27 mph winds experienced Sunday are expected to die down to 5 to 10 mph Monday, said Scott Kelly of the National Weather Service office in Melbourne. Gusts as high as 40 mph were recorded in Ormond Beach on Sunday and the wind kept changing directions, he said.The Keetch-Byram Drought Index hit 529 in Volusia County on Sunday, but was 430 in Flagler County. The Keech-Byram Drought Index measures moisture in the soil, with zero being saturation and 800 indicating desert-like conditions.

Check Volusia County traffic conditions, updates.

Check Flagler County traffic conditions, updates.

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